Realizations
by laughing on the inside
Summary: Sakuno finally gets over her feelings for Ryoma, just as Ryoma realizes his feelings for her.
1. epiphany

Realizations

Ch 1: Epiphany

Disclaimer: dont own it blah blah blah wish i did blah blah blah

A/N: well here it is, my first story! whoo, so here we go, hope you enjoy it!

Summary: Sakuno finally gets over her feelings for Ryoma, just as Ryoma realizes his feelings for her.

It's a bright sunny day. An alarm clock rings, annoyingly. Sakuno reaches over and turns her alarm off slowly. Her low blood pressure prevents her from moving any faster. She sits in a daze for about half an hour, until her grandmother's call wakes her from her stupor. She gets up and pulls her uniform on, a bit more energetically. Her eyes brighten as she looks out the window,  
"it's going to be a great day, I can feel it. I'm going to make my 9th grade (freshman year I think) year the best one of my life!" Sakuno says quietly to herself.

She spins around to face her bedside desk, she brushes her hair as her eyes wonder the table. Suddenly a picture comes into her line of sight. She stares at it, a picture of her and her long-time crush, "the prince of tennis". She smiles at herself smiling in the picture. She remembers how she would almost stalk Ryoma, make sure she was present at every match and blushed at everything he said, stutter in her every response to him. She laughs quietly at herself, her naivety. She saw Ryoma now as a friend, she understands that she will never mean more than that to him, and she accepts it.

"Oy!! Sakuno, get down here or you aren't getting any breakfast!" Sakuno's grandmother, Sumire Ryuzaki, yells "God I swear, Sakuno gets slower everyday," Sumire Ryuzaki says to herself.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Sakuno says in at a normal volume. She still speaks quietly, even at the age of 15.

Sakuno walks down the stair case, her mid length ponytail swishing behind her with every step. "Grandma, I'm walking to school, okay?"

"Sure, do as you please, but why would you? I can drive you."

"Got to get in training, I really want to get better at tennis, and fitness is the first place to start!"

Sumire examined her granddaughter. She could tell there was a change in her attitude, her personality. She seemed happier, more confident, like a repressing thought (or crush) she had for a long time was suddenly lifted (or gotten over) and her burdens were lessened. Whatever happened Sumire could tell, it was for the best.

"I'm off!" Sakuno stated happily, after finishing her piece of toast. She walked down the streets eventually arriving at the school gates, where Tomo chan, her long time best friend, was waiting for her, most probably to exchange some type of gossip she had found out from someone's friend of a friend.

"Hey! Sakuno chan!" she screamed loudly, that was Tomo, loud as a herd of stampeding elephants (each playing a jumbo stereo on full blast), "How were your holidays? Anything interesting happen? That's a nice hair cut, did you layer it? You'll never guess what someone told me about that girl, you know the one with the hair and stuff! Oh and I also heard tones of gossip about Ryoma sama!!"

"Good ol' predictable Tomo," thought Sakuno, with a sigh. "Umm Tomo chan?"

"Yeah Sakuno chan?"

"Better get this over with," thought Sakuno. "I don't know how to tell you this, but…I'm not really into Ryoma kun that much anymore." Sakuno said matter-of-factly. Quick as lightning she had her hand over Tomo's mouth. As Tomo began to rant…energetically. Sakuno stood there with an impassive, almost bored look on her face as she waited for Tomo to calm down. Fifteen minutes worth of staring from random passers by-ers and Tomo-ranting later, she began to calm down. Sakuno unclamped her hand off Tomo's mouth.

"But Sakuno…but…uh…Why? What happened?" Tomo questioned eagerly trying to find a suitable phrase.

"Hmmm, I'm not really sure why, and nothing happened. I just sort of, got up one morning and realized that Ryoma was sort of, always cold towards me (and everyone else) so I guess he mustn't really like us all crowding around him and fangirling(?) him that much. I actually understand now and I realize that it was naïve(dumb) of me to think that I could ever register as more than a friend to him." After Sakuno related her epiphany to Tomo, she began walking into the school, Tomo following her, trying to find a way around her logic to change Sakuno's mind. After finding no flaw in her reasoning she said, "Well, I know you only joined tennis to get closer to him, so are you giving it up?" Tomo asked sincerely.

"No I love tennis and I want to get better."

"Will you still cheer for him and go to his matches, because I still like Ryoma sama, and I like cheering with you."

"I don't really want to, but if I'm free I'll go, for you Tomo, but I'm not wearing that uniform, part of my epiphany was realizing how ridiculous those costumes were."

Both girls began giggling as they entered the class room.

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well thats the first chapter, hope you loved it! Ryoma will appear in the next chapter, i really hope i get some reviews

~MxM


	2. changes

Ch 2

A/N i don't really get jap schooling so for all intents and purposes: Ryoma and Sakuno first met in yr7 and two years later are in yr9, most of the senpais were in yr 10 and are mostly now in yr 12

Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of tennis, because if i did it would probably lyk 2 chapters long and still uncompleted, because i am just that lazy

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Ch2 starts now!

Sakuno and Tomo walk into the classroom and sit down. It's a new year so they look around, hoping to see a familiar face or two. They see some of the people they knew from the previous years and a few new students.

"Hey Sakuno chan?" asks Tomo

"Yeah Tomo chan,"

"I wonder…" she began when she was suddenly cut off by a squeal so loud it could only belong to (dun dun dun), the Ryoma Fanclub.

Sakuno sighed, as Ryoma entered the room, fangirls in tow. She remembered when she used to be one of those fangirls, obsessed with him and whatever he did.

Ryoma surveyed the room his eyes landing on Ryuzaki Sakuno, who looked annoyed at her friend, possibly for ditching her and running up to him.

"Hi Ryoma sama!!" Tomo yells, as if Ryoma were deaf (or had his eardrums burst by an explosion the size of Hiroshima).

"Uhhh, damn, what was her name again? Uhhh…" thought Ryoma when Sakuno interjected,

"Tomo you really should control your voice level, my Grandmother swears she can hear you shouting all the way in the PE department," Sakuno calls with a giggle as she calmly walks up to Tomo.

"Thank god Ryuzaki was here. Now I won't have to endure that girl's non-stop, neverending shouting," Ryoma was thinking, as he stared at Sakuno, "Sakuno has gotten a lot prettier," he thought. Little did Sakuno know, but Ryoma too had had an epiphany. He realized that Sakuno was his true love, always cheering for him, helping him, being quiet and sweet. People (used to) not notice her, but he was always watching her. Noticing all the little things, but acting as though he hadn't seen it, or didn't care. He finally came to terms with his feelings for her, and now was ready (after weeks of practicing) to convey his feelings. He was dragged back to reality as Tomo waved her hand in front of his face and shouted,

"Hey Ryoma sama are you okay?"

"hnn," he … hnned(?), wait, I should be more polite, Ryuzaki probably likes that "oh yeah, uh good morning Osakada san, Ryuzaki san." He began to walk calmly to a desk, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, but on the inside he was dieing of embarrassment, it was so out of character for him to be civil, let alone polite.

"Kyaaaaa Ryoma sama knows my name!!!!"

"Good morning Ryoma kun," Sakuno says with a lot more dignity than Tomo. He turned his head towards Sakuno.

"Doesn't she usually blush or stutter or something?" thought Ryoma sadly, he liked it when she did that, it made her look cuter. He continued on his path towards the desk he wanted.

"Come on Tomo let's go sit down, the teacher's probably coming in soon anyway." Sakuno said as she turned her back swiftly on Ryoma, dragging Tomo back to her seat. He frowned slightly. As he took a spot behind Sakuno, like when they were younger, one thought clouded his mind for the remainder of the day; "Sakuno was usually a lot shyer around him, what happened?"

Eventually after what seemed like an eternity of greetings and, "My name is Mr/Mrs ______ I hope that this year will be fun for us all," it was the end of school; the bell rang loudly, reverberating through the rooms and down the hall. Chairs were pushed back and books were picked up. Much gossip could be heard; "Are you going to see the tennis training?" "I hear the selection for the regulars will be held next week." "OMG, I'm going to go cheer for Ryoma sama during training!!! Kyaaaa!"

"Hey Sakuno are you going down to the tennis club now?" asked Tomo enthusiastically.

"Yup, are you going to go and cheer for Ryoma kun?" Sakuno didn't really understand why the Ryoma fanclub would cheer for him if he was only training, but she sighed and laid the blame on hormones and immaturity.

"OFCOURSE!!"

Sakuno giggled quietly as she walked out the door listening to Tomo go on about how great Ryoma was, how cool he was and how hot he was. She was hoping that soon her best friend would see that she would never be more than a friend (or possibly less if she kept annoying him and shouting in his face) in Ryoma's eyes, but she didn't mind, as long as she was happy.

Eventually Sakuno and Tomo had to go their separate ways, Sakuno to the changing rooms and Tomo straight to the courts. Sakuno got her tennis sweats on, track suit jacket and shorts, and adjusted her ponytail slightly, making it higher. She put on a pink sweat band and matching wrist bands. She smiled at her reflection.

"Ryuzaki san are you trying out for the girl's regulars?" asked Minami, a young 7th grade girl as she finished putting on her training outfit. She was innocent, cute and always good tempered, a bit like Sakuno.

"Definitely! I can't think of anything I'd rather do!" Sakuno said politely, she didn't really know much about Minami, but from what she had heard she could tell they would be good friends. "What about you Minami? Are you trying out?"

"I want to, but you know, it's really hard for 7th graders to get in."

"Don't worry, just try your best and I know you'll succeed." They walk to the outside courts where there were more girls out side the boy's courts than inside the girls courts, which Sakuno thought was kind of sad.

"Wow there are so many girls," Minami said slowly full of awe, "what are they doing Ryuzaki san?" She stared at the girls in astonishment, if there were so many of them there it was either: a.) a sale on clothes, make up and/or accessories or b.) a really hot guy.

"Have you heard of Ryoma Echizen?"

"I guess it's option b.) then," she was thought as she asked, "Who?"

"He's just a really cool guy who has legions of fans all over the globe(exaggeration much?). He's one of those calm, cool, collected types. Seriously if you want my advice; don't bother falling for him; it doesn't do anyone any good."

"Wow it sounds like you're speaking from experience,"

They both laughed as they made their way to the courts, where the coach was getting ready to start a horrible training session that would push all the would be girls regulars to their very limit.

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yes well the next chapter won't be as dramatic as that sounds I'll post it soon, then i'm off for a while (_**roughly**_ a few weeks), i could be in a far off mystical land, or i could be sitting at home reading other fanfics, you'll never know...


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